


the things we remember all through our lives

by Marishna



Series: Advent Calendar 2016 [21]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Tree, Claudia Stilinski Memories, Costumes, F/M, Hospitals, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, fight me, i will go down with this name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 03:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9366134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marishna/pseuds/Marishna
Summary: As he picked up the pieces he knew immediately which ornament it was and his heart sank.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Totes late, and I still have a couple more fics to write to finish Christmas, but here's Day 23!
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://hoechlin-perfection.tumblr.com/)!

"Dad!  You're going to be late!" 

John grunted as he hefted a box of Christmas decorations down off a shelf in the attic.  

"Dad!"

"Coming!" John yelled back to Stiles who was in the living room fluffling the sections of their artificial tree that had seen far better days.  "Y'know, maybe next year we could--shit!"

As John was walking down the stairs he missed the last step and landed hard at the bottom and the box of decorations in his arms fell to the ground, busting open and scattering balls and bits of tinsel everywhere.

"That's one way to do it, I suppose," Stiles snorted as he grabbed a few of the fallen ornaments.  "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," John grunted as he bent down to start picking things up.  He noticed some shards of something shiny under one of the side tables by the couch and reached under to pick them up gently, careful not to cut himself.

As he picked up the pieces he knew immediately which ornament it was and his heart sank.  During their first Christmas together over twenty years earlier Claudia bought John a glass snowflake ornament to commemorate it.  She planned to buy a new one each year and eventually have only the ornament and white lights on the tree but life happened, as it so often does, and they ended up with the one only. 

It was Claudia's favorite ornament until she died though, and Stiles made sure to put it front and center on the tree every year since she passed.  John wasn't sure how to tell his son it broke so he carefully tucked the pieces behind a tissue box on the side table and dusted his hands off.

"Come on, we're going to be late," John announced while Stiles rolled his eyes and hastily arranged the decorations in his hands into some semblance of order on the couch.  Maybe Stiles would get wrapped up in the tree when they got back and wouldn't notice John trying to put the ornament back together.

_Yeah, and his New Year's resolution is to keep his nose out of your cases,_ John's mind taunted him.

They grabbed their costumes and jumped in the cruiser to leave for the hospital.  After all, Santa couldn't be late.

***

The smiles on the faces of kids in the pediatric ward was enough to make John temporarily forget the pit in his stomach over the broken snowflake ornament. The boots for his Santa costume were about a half size too big but he owned it anyway and used them to loudly clomp down the hall until he got to the entrance of the ward.

"Ready, kid?" he asked Stiles who was dressed in an elf costume, complete with face makeup to hide his identity as best as he could and curly shoes that pinched at the toes. 

"Ready, boss!" Stiles replied in a high pitched voice.  John chuckled and then launched into a boisterous and jolly _ho ho ho!_ as he stepped through the door.  A chorus of voices echoed in the room from the kids as they cheered for the "Santa" and his "elf".  

Wheelchairs kept a lot of the kids relatively immobile so John made his way around the room to individually meet everyone before he sat down in the decorated chair the staff provided for this occasion. Parents hovered in the back with their phones recording.

Stiles kept the children entertained as one by one they filed up to John to make their Christmas wish. Most were able to sit on his lap with a little help and whisper what they wanted in his ear but for some John got down on his knees to meet with because they couldn't get out of their chairs or had constraints on their movements from tubes and drains and portable machines. 

Across the room he could see Melissa watching them with a wide smile on her face.  Every now and then John's eyes would meet hers and she'd glance away before sneakily looking back at him.  He was grateful for the big white beard that covered his cheeks from tattling on his own flushed expression. 

Once John was finished meeting with all the children he and Stiles handed out the gifts that were pre-bought and wrapped by the hospital staff.  The looks on the children's' faces when they tore into their gifts with varying levels of ferocity reminded John about the joy of Christmas and who the idea of it was for.  He had his own memories of Stiles unwrapping gifts like those kids, and even in the thick of his toughest times struggling as a single parent he could recall those moments and remember why it was all worth it. 

Near the end of the party when the kids were playing themselves out and the parents were taking tons of photos Melissa approached John who was watching everyone from his specially decorated chair.

"Looks like there's one more," Melissa said as she handed a small wrapped gift to him. John was confused and must have looked such as he accepted it.  "I asked the rest of the staff about it but no one seems to know anything about it.  It has your name on it."

John looked at the tag and saw it read "Santa".  He shook his head and tried to give it back.  "It's a mistake, I don't want to cause anyone any trouble."

Melissa shook her head.  "I already checked with everyone, it's yours.  Open it and say thank you, Stilinski," she said softly enough that the children couldn't overhear.  John shrugged and ripped the paper off the small box, about the size of a softball.

Inside was a nondescript brown box so he popped the top open and pulled out a styrofoam packing form, separated into two parts. When he opened the parts he was sure he was seeing things. 

He pulled out a glass snowflake ornament, one that looked identical to the one he broke earlier in the afternoon.  He looked up at Melissa sharply.

"Where did this come from?" he asked.

Melissa shrugged. "It was at the bottom of the box we kept all the gifts for the children in.  We didn't even know it was there until we finished handing everything out. Is there something wrong?"  Melissa looked at what he got and her eyes widened.  "That's so pretty!"

"Yeah," John agreed softly.  "It is."

"You'll have to send me a picture of your tree when it's up.  I don't think Scott and I are going to get ours up this year," Melissa told him with a sigh of resignation.

"Why's that?" John asked, holding the familiar weight of the ornament in his hand.

"Scott's too busy working for Deaton and I'm not sure the artificial tree even really survived last year's New Year's gathering of werewolves and various other species. Who knows if it's worth buying a new one now," Melissa explained.

"You should come help us finish decorating our tree," Stiles announced as he joined his dad and Melissa. He was typing quickly on his phone and didn't look up until he was done.  "Well, help dad.  I've gotta go."

"Pack stuff?" Melissa asked and Stiles nodded. 

"Keep him away from the lights that blink in time to that horrible electronic Christmas music, okay?" Stiles instructed.  

"Those are a classic," John piped up but Stiles and Melissa both groaned.  "Tough crowd." 

"I guess that would okay?" Melissa said hesitantly.  "Is it all right with you?"

John's fingers squeezed lightly around the glass ornament.  "I'd really like it, actually."

***

_a year later_

"Where are those damn lights?" John called from the attic but he couldn't be heard.  Or he was being purposely ignored.  He gave up and left the attic, folding the ladder back into the ceiling before brushing the dust off his hands.

"Are those lights down here?" John asked as he jogged down the stairs into the living room.  Melissa and Stiles looked at each other for a split second before breaking into loud laughter.  "What did you awful people do to my favorite lights?"

"They're in a better place, Dad," Stiles replied. 

"They were pretty sad," Melissa agreed.  "But we found these nice LED ones at the store earlier and I think you'll like them just as much as the ones that played that horr-- music." 

John frowned exaggeratedly while Scott rested a hand on his shoulder.  "I don't know what they're talking about, Sheriff.  I loved those lights as much as you did."

"Thank you, _Scott_ ," John replied pointedly at his son and girlfriend.  "At least _someone_ appreciates holiday kitsch."

"Dad, the army could have used those in their torture tactics," Stiles shot back.

"But we could have done karaoke to them!" Scott cried, leaving John's side to jump on Stiles who was untangling garlands of tinsel. As they rolled around on the floor with each other, laughing, Melissa stood up and laced her fingers through John's.  

He leaned in and kissed her gently while their boys were distracted.  She smiled against his lips and then let her head drop to his shoulder, taking in the sight of the partially-decorated tree that had still definitely seen better days. 

Front and center were two the two glass snowflake ornaments; one was still shiny and new, while the other had its own charm thanks to a lifetime of stories it could tell from between the super glue-filled cracks that held it fast.


End file.
